THREE PEOPLE were killed in two crashes in Cork late on St Patrick’s Day.
The funeral will take place tomorrow of Ruth Gorey (18), from Kilbehenny, outside Mitchelstown, who was due to sit her Leaving Certificate examinations in June.
She was pronounced dead at the scene after the jeep she was driving hit a ditch and overturned shortly before 7pm on Thursday.
In a separate crash hours later, mother-of-one Aoife Callanan (26), from Coolroe Heights in Ballincollig, died when the car she was driving collided with a vehicle driven by a 17-year-old man from Wexford who was also killed.
The crash occurred in the westbound lane of the N25 between Carrigtwohill and Little Island shortly after midnight.
A passenger in the car driven by the teenager was taken to Cork University Hospital (CUH), where his condition was described yesterday as serious. It is understood the two were travelling from Wexford to a car rally in west Cork.
A section of the road remained closed until after 3pm yesterday as gardaí carried out investigations. Diversions along the old Cork road resulted in heavy traffic congestion for motorists in the east Cork area yesterday, with long delays reported around Cobh, Midleton, Little Island and Glounthaune.
Ballincollig councillor Derry Canty said the woman’s family was well respected and her loss was especially tragic as she leaves a young child behind.
“My deepest sympathies to the family. Aoife’s father, Mark, was always active in the community and they would be well known, it’s a terrible loss for them,” he said.
People in Kilbehenny were yesterday grieving over the death of Ms Gorey, a student of Presentation Secondary School in Mitchelstown. She was driving a seven-seat vehicle that crashed about a mile outside the town.
Six passengers travelling in the car were rushed to CUH following the single-vehicle incident, including the driver’s 15-year-old brother, Andrew.
Five have since been discharged from hospital, while one teenage girl, who suffered a broken leg, remains at CUH in a stable condition.
Six ambulances attended the scene and gardaí closed off a section of the old Dublin road between Kilbehenny and Mitchelstown for a number of hours following the crash.
Local priest Fr Richard Kelly said the village was in a state of trauma following the incident.
“We are a small, tight-knit community here and everyone is affected by this tragic accident. Ruth was a popular girl, involved in lots of activities and was a well-liked and respected pupil at her school in Mitchelstown. People here are traumatised and devastated,” he said.
While the outcome of Thursday’s crash was devastating, Fr Kelly said it could easily have resulted in a greater number of fatalities. “There were seven young people travelling in the jeep and they were all from around the area. As bad as it was, it could have been a lot worse,” he said.